EU+US Looking to start a healer for PvP...

[Quint]

Holy Priest has become strong by 7.1. Still only 1-2 people play as Holy beside myself in whole EU.

- Holy Word: Serenity is like Lay on Hands (which had 10 min cooldown). You may heal 4k at once every 15-20 sec by Serendipity.
- Cast Flash heal mainly. Use a mana potion when you oom. (I've realized yesterday mana potions are disabled, too.)
- Spam renew madly in large fight.
- Use Holy Word: Chastise on dirty dps like survival, stack Swiftness potions for escape. Chastise is lifesaver, so don't waste it without reason.
- Trail of Light is awesome talent, unfortunately we can't drink in BG anymore (except conjured foods of mages), so Enlightenment is recommended.

You will barely kill anyone, and you need a personal bodyguard though. Mostly you will outheal any Discipline, because those lemmings rather dps instead heal. It's the stupidest, when a single heal could save you, but penancing on a 100% health enemy is more important.

 

[Wuts]

I know this isn't what you are wanting to hear, but why not play your favorite class and spec because the game is constantly updating? Or just level each healer to 20 because it hardly takes any effort to get there and decide based on your own results. I found this thread interesting because somebody is saying Holy priest is viable right now, which is something that I never really saw in battlegrounds previously.

 

[Dragpz]

Not entirely sure why people are insisting otherwise, but without a doubt Disc Priests win no matter what. Holy priests were viable in Pre-patch. Disc Priests will always outheal any other class due to PW:S, which is an instant ~1k heal? since absorbs count towards healing done. They have Psychic Scream, which is on a 30s cooldown, compared to a 5s incap on a 1m CD for Holy Priests. The quick Serenity CD sounds nice, but you are not always allowed to cast 10 heals to optimize. For PUGs, hands down, Disc is God Tier. Rshams are Tier One, due to massive healing surges. As an HPal, you cannot afford to burn a GCD on a Beacon, it just doesn't make sense, especially with the amount of burst from Hunters. As an HPriest, your only saving grace is Serenity(which is like a 1m Lay on Hands). Other than that, you will get absolutely demolished without PW:S.

Psychic scream by itself is almost like a Lay on Hands, considering if one target is being focusd, you can Fear them all to get yourself enough time for an actual hardcast

The only time I see Disc Priests getting dethroned is if they bring back OP MW instant cast heals. Instant heals + high mobility will for sure reck Discs

 

[Omghax]

Not entirely sure why people are insisting otherwise, but without a doubt Disc Priests win no matter what. Holy priests were viable in Pre-patch. Disc Priests will always outheal any other class due to PW:S, which is an instant ~1k heal? since absorbs count towards healing done. They have Psychic Scream, which is on a 30s cooldown, compared to a 5s incap on a 1m CD for Holy Priests. The quick Serenity CD sounds nice, but you are not always allowed to cast 10 heals to optimize. For PUGs, hands down, Disc is God Tier. Rshams are Tier One, due to massive healing surges. As an HPal, you cannot afford to burn a GCD on a Beacon, it just doesn't make sense, especially with the amount of burst from Hunters. As an HPriest, your only saving grace is Serenity(which is like a 1m Lay on Hands). Other than that, you will get absolutely demolished without PW:S.

Psychic scream by itself is almost like a Lay on Hands, considering if one target is being focusd, you can Fear them all to get yourself enough time for an actual hardcast

The only time I see Disc Priests getting dethroned is if they bring back OP MW instant cast heals. Instant heals + high mobility will for sure reck Discs

Regarding Hpally, that is why it is a higher skill cap. Timing a GCD to move beacon means having to make sure you have a bestow faith rolling and a shock ready, maybe a hammer or a bubble depending on the pressure. Sometimes there is nothing you can do and a couple Survs focus together and your heal target gets global'd. But even a disc can't stop that.

 

[Dragpz]

Regarding Hpally, that is why it is a higher skill cap. Timing a GCD to move beacon means having to make sure you have a bestow faith rolling and a shock ready, maybe a hammer or a bubble depending on the pressure. Sometimes there is nothing you can do and a couple Survs focus together and your heal target gets global'd. But even a disc can't stop that.

But a disc can stop that, PW:S and Flash Heal; or if he's getting gangbanged PW:S and then Psychic Scream for a Flash Heal. Sure, I suppose you're screwed if there is extreme pressure from several Survs, but a Disc Priest will undoubtedly outlast other healers.

Here's some comparisons:
Holy Shock(400% SP) vs Penance(190% SP * 3) - both on 9 sec CDs
+ Advantage of Penance: Sustained Healing for a larger amount
- Disadvantage: Channeled

Hammer of Justice (6 sec stun) vs Psychic Scream (8 sec fear) - both instant casts
+ Advantage of Psychic Scream: it affects 5 targets
+ HoJ on 1m CD, Scream, 30s CD

Flash of Light (450% SP) vs Flash Heal (475% SP) - both 1.5s casts
+ Flash heal has higher HPS.

And a lot of spells cost alot more (~18% base vs ~3% base mana) for HPals compared to Disc. I'm not going argue that it takes more skill to play an HPal ( frankly, any class that isn't FoTM could be considered higher skill cap ) But, it feels like playing with a handicap if you aren't playing the best class. I could carry entire PuGs with Disc. I can't do that with HPal. The closest thing to Disc is RSham, because crazy healing surge spam = high HPS, but RShams go OOM very easily.

 

[tence]

I'll chime in on hpally and healing since I've done it a lot in the various xpacs I've suffered through.

Hpally is a strong class if played correctly. Strong burst heals through holy shock, timing bestow faith, and flash of light spamming. While it may not have THE BEST burst healing, it has a good mix of everything that leaves it as kind of the swiss army knife of healing classes in my eyes. The high amount of armor, divine shield, and bestow faith/holy shock while moving make it a very strong compliment to other healers. Beacon of light was one of my favourite abilities in higher level hpally play, and really is (as stated above) what separates the less experienced to the experienced healers if used optimally.

If all else fails, just know that I was able to keep up with healing vs disc priests all throughout the last expansion pack with really only flash of light. Where there is a will, one will find a way to succeed.

Rather than worrying about what is the best, and worst, focus on learning positioning, map awareness, and mana awareness/efficiency.

 

[Alphasky]

Hello there m8,

If you're up for a fast boot camp, come and be my pocket healer! ( am always looking for 4-5 )

I guarantee a quick learning experience!

Cheers!

 

[Fx]

But a disc can stop that, PW:S and Flash Heal; or if he's getting gangbanged PW:S and then Psychic Scream for a Flash Heal. Sure, I suppose you're screwed if there is extreme pressure from several Survs, but a Disc Priest will undoubtedly outlast other healers.

Here's some comparisons:
Holy Shock(400% SP) vs Penance(190% SP * 3) - both on 9 sec CDs
+ Advantage of Penance: Sustained Healing for a larger amount
- Disadvantage: Channeled

Hammer of Justice (6 sec stun) vs Psychic Scream (8 sec fear) - both instant casts
+ Advantage of Psychic Scream: it affects 5 targets
+ HoJ on 1m CD, Scream, 30s CD

Flash of Light (450% SP) vs Flash Heal (475% SP) - both 1.5s casts
+ Flash heal has higher HPS.

And a lot of spells cost alot more (~18% base vs ~3% base mana) for HPals compared to Disc. I'm not going argue that it takes more skill to play an HPal ( frankly, any class that isn't FoTM could be considered higher skill cap ) But, it feels like playing with a handicap if you aren't playing the best class. I could carry entire PuGs with Disc. I can't do that with HPal. The closest thing to Disc is RSham, because crazy healing surge spam = high HPS, but RShams go OOM very easily.

Scream is a 1min cd in this bracket mate.

 

[Fx]

And yeah disc is just leagues above every other healer Idk how this is still a topic of discussion.

The only healer that can even hold a candle next to it is RSham and that's because they have Ghost Wolf, Earthbind, and good instantheals.

 

[Omghax]

But a disc can stop that, PW:S and Flash Heal; or if he's getting gangbanged PW:S and then Psychic Scream for a Flash Heal. Sure, I suppose you're screwed if there is extreme pressure from several Survs, but a Disc Priest will undoubtedly outlast other healers.

Here's some comparisons:
Holy Shock(400% SP) vs Penance(190% SP * 3) - both on 9 sec CDs
+ Advantage of Penance: Sustained Healing for a larger amount
- Disadvantage: Channeled

Hammer of Justice (6 sec stun) vs Psychic Scream (8 sec fear) - both instant casts
+ Advantage of Psychic Scream: it affects 5 targets
+ HoJ on 1m CD, Scream, 30s CD

Flash of Light (450% SP) vs Flash Heal (475% SP) - both 1.5s casts
+ Flash heal has higher HPS.

And a lot of spells cost alot more (~18% base vs ~3% base mana) for HPals compared to Disc. I'm not going argue that it takes more skill to play an HPal ( frankly, any class that isn't FoTM could be considered higher skill cap ) But, it feels like playing with a handicap if you aren't playing the best class. I could carry entire PuGs with Disc. I can't do that with HPal. The closest thing to Disc is RSham, because crazy healing surge spam = high HPS, but RShams go OOM very easily.

The only flaw I see in your plan to survive multiple Surv hutards is that after the 8 second fear the will just chain back to you and global you ;p

 

[Caramelcorn]

It doesn't really matter how much pressure there is to play Discipline, I'm 100% Holy Priest! (http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/terokkar/Wisaapa/simple is me). I've never touched the hideous spec that is Disc and never will.

I personally enjoy my two stuns in Chastise + War Stomp, because that's something other healers don't offer. At least, that's my best attempt to create a useful character on the Horde side - Alliance of course allows me to be Resto Shaman/Resto Druid.